The Mike Hosking Breakfast

It took just over a year for the US to go from one to 25 million coronavirus infections.
That's an average of about 67,934 new infections every day. Or an average of one new infection every 1.2 seconds since January 21, 2020.
As infections kept soaring this weekend, so did the death toll. As of Sunday, more than 417,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The US death toll could reach 569,000 by May 1, according to the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation -- even though "42,800 lives will be saved by the projected vaccine rollout."
While some states have reported recent dips in their daily Covid-19 numbers, new coronavirus variants have many scientists worried.
"It is, first of all, good news to see that curve bend down a little. We're still at a very high level of infections," said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
"But I am very worried about whether we're going to be able to sustain this or not. If we move quickly on vaccinations ... then we can keep that curve heading down. But if the variants take hold first, that curve will turn back up. And things will get much worse," he said.
"So this is a race. Obviously I hope we win."
Fauci: One of the new strains could be deadlier
A coronavirus variant called B.1.1.7, first identified in the United Kingdom, is one of the more concerning strains.
It's been detected in at least 22 US states, according to data posted Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC has warned this strain appeared to be more easily transmissible, and that the US could see "rapid growth" of its spread in early 2021.
A UK report released Friday said there's "a realistic possibility" that B.1.1.7 has a higher death rate than other variants.
"The data is mounting -- and some of it I can't share -- that clearly supports that B.1.1.7 is causing more severe illness and increased death," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
"Already we know this variant has increased transmission, and so this is more very bad news."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it's certainly possibly this strain could be more harmful.
"We need to assume now that what has been circulating dominantly in the UK does have a certain degree of increase in what we call virulence, namely the power of the virus to cause more damage including death," Fauci said told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
He noted that the research is still evolving.
"The data that came out was after they had been saying all along that it did not appear to be more deadly, so that's where we got that information," Fauci said.
The director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins said Saturday it's still too soon to tell if the B.1.1.7 variant is deadlier, saying the data is "very preliminary."
"It looks as if, if you look at 1,000 people who got infected with Covid-19, generally about 1%, 10 of them, would die of it. Maybe with this virus, it would be 13 instead of 10," Collins told MSNBC. "That's a small difference."
He added that increased mortality could be a "consequence of the fact that the UK health system is really overwhelmed."
"That has an effect also on mortality," Collins added.
In the US, Washington state health officials said they found the variant in testing samples in the state.
"We're now in that second half of fighting this pandemic," Washington Secretary of Health Umair A. Shah said Saturday.
"It's very important for us to really double down on our efforts to prevent this strain as well as any strain from taking over, because we want to make sure that transmission does not happen in our state and the best way to do that is...

The discovery online of CCTV footage from New Zealand home and businesses has sparked a reminder for people to change their passwords. 
Unknown to the user, views of people's homes and workplaces were streamed online after hackers accessed their camera feed.
All Round Security director Philip Walsh told Mike Hosking hackers have systems to automatically find online cameras, and load standard passwords en masse.
"They can often use some of the smarter cameras as an online computer, and use it as a storage system for spamming other businesses."
He says many people don't change factory passwords, which are readily available online.
"Now that password needs to be changed by the installer, and that remedies 95 percent of the problems straight away."
LISTEN ABOVE

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Monday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Border Still Not Closed Enough/Rent Rules/Tiwai Plays Hardball/Remember the Olympics?/Yes, I Would Like Fries with That

Encouraging signs as we wait to see how far or wide, our latest Covid-19 case in the community has spread.
The 56-year-old woman was released from MIQ on January 13 - after testing negative twice.
She then travelled to 30 different locations around southern Northland before returning a positive test late on Saturday.
Her husband and hairdresser have both tested negative, with officials still awaiting results of two other close contacts.
Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking the woman followed all of the rules and did everything right.
"One of the reasons we're in a position to be able to contact trace quickly and test quickly is because she kept a very scrupulous record."
Asked if she got it at her managed isolation facility, the Pullman Hotel, Hipkins said it was "more likely" that she did.
"We can't really make a conclusion about where she got it yet. It's possible it's an ultra-long incubation period, although unlikely, it's probably more possible that she picked it up at the MIQ facility but at this point I wouldn't rule any scenarios in or out," Hipkins said
Hosking told Hipkins the Government was too soft, but he rejected that.
"No, I don't think so when you look at overall, what we've dealt with. We've had more than 100,000 people come back through those isolation facilities, we've picked up about 600 cases, those 600 cases have all been isolated. There's very little evidence that there's been transmission between people within the facility," Hipkins said.
Hipkins said they wouldn't be able to confirm if there would be any lockdown in Northland for up to 48 hours.
"Everyone wants answers, everybody reaches their own conclusions and starts hypothecating about what might have happened but we do have to wait for another 24 to 48 hours to draw some conclusions."
Hipkins wouldn't comment about any change in alert levels but said the test results of close contacts would decide what would happen next.
"The testing results from the close contacts and those who are coming forward because they were in the same place at the same time, the test results from that group will very much inform what happens next."
Hipkins said they couldn't stop Kiwis who lived overseas coming home.
"I think it's too early to draw conclusions and I think we do need to take a breath and find out what has happened here ... but the woman here has followed all the rules and done everything right."
Hosking said that was just luck and what happened if the next person didn't do that.
"Well that's one of the reasons why we're asking people to do that, it is important, it does matter and one of the reasons why we have the freedom ... that we have at the moment," Hipkins replied.
Asked what the woman was doing overseas, Hipkins wouldn't say, but he did rule out that she had not been on holiday.

New Zealand's latest Covid case in the community could be a lot worse, according to one of our top epidemiologists.
A 56-year-old woman, who lives south of Whangārei, was released from MIQ in Auckland on January 13, developed mild symptoms on January 15 and got tested on January 22 after her condition deteriorated.
She is currently in isolation with her husband, who has also tested negative. 
Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told Mike Hosking the new case was a learning process for everyone and illustrated how everyone could do better.
As for what more could be done, Baker said looking at how she got infected, he said it was likely she got infected in the MIQ facility and what advice was she given in MIQ before she left.
Baker said the woman did all the right things afterwards but more could be done for the week once she left.
The genome testing, looking at CCTV, testing other staff and people in that facility. asked if it's too loose, Baker said it was a balance and needed to go more to the biosecurity side and was more they could do.
Baker said the case could have been a lot worse and that it was a border case was good news, and the fact she didn't appear to have a lot of close contacts and the outbreak would hopefully be controlled rapidly.
The risk had now gone up several notches. His colleagues believed NEw Zealand needed to look more at the source countries because once they were there was more risk of an outbreak.
He realised the Government needed to balance everything but they needed to move quickly.
"We have to up our defences accordingly and there are things we can do."
Hipkins said it was still too early to say whether any restrictions or alert level changes would be needed, or how the woman got the virus.
"We don't have the relevant information we need to make any further decisions on that. As soon as we do we will keep people informed."
He said anybody who had symptoms should get a test, wherever they were in New Zealand.

Less than a week after announcing they would no longer fly into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Emirates have made a sudden U-turn and announced they will resume passenger flights to the east coast of Australia.

From Monday, flights will resume into Sydney, Melbourne from Tuesday and Brisbane will be back in action from Thursday.
The airline’s announcement to dump all flights to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne left thousands of Australians stranded after the major airline announced the mass cancellation of routes.
“We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers in the period where we had to temporarily suspend our services,” a statement distributed by the airline read.
“The pandemic has made international flying incredibly challenging, and the dynamic restrictions and requirements implemented by the different state authorities in Australia had added complexity and burden to our operations.
“This led us to temporarily suspend passenger services while we engaged with various stakeholders regarding crew protocols and other operational details.”
The Federal Government’s caps on the number of passengers allowed on planes into Australia have been reduced in order to further ease pressure on the nation’s quarantine facilities.
This played as a deciding factor for Emirates, who cited “operational reasons” behind their flight suspension order.

"Combined with the hotel quarantine and tests on arrival in Australia, this effectively means that our crew are in a bubble from 48 hours before their flight, until they return to Dubai,” the airline said.

“This is an added burden for our crew as individuals, for our rostering, and operating costs, and therefore this decision was made after careful review and consideration.”



The current caps in Australia are around 1500 weekly for NSW, and 500 for Queensland and WA. Chartered flights for vulnerable Australians will continue.



From January 22, the government will require travellers to Australia to return a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to departure.
There are around 37,000 Australians still overseas and seeking assistance to get back into the country.

It's the 66th annual NZ Grand Prix at Hampton Downs this weekend and they have a star studded lineup.
Shane van Gisbergen, Andre Heimgartner, three time winner Kenny Smith and two time winner Dan Gaunt will all be out on the track in what has been called the strongest and most interesting lineup since the 80's.
It's even brought legendary driver Greg Murphy out of retirement and back behind the wheel. He joins Mike Hosking ahead of the race.
LISTEN ABOVE

Every Friday morning, Mike Hosking is joined by Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby to wrap the week in news.
LISTEN ABOVE

This time next week, American Magic will be lining up in the Prada Cup semi-finals, just short of two weeks following their dramatic capsize on the Waitematā Harbour.
'Patriot' tipped over after tacking bearaway at 45kn on the penultimate leg of their race against Luna Rossa day three of the Prada Cup, with a rescue effort of more than three hours required to save the vessel from sinking.
The team have been working overtime to repair a massive hole in Patriot's hull, as well as replacing the boat's electronics and foil cant system.
Speaking to the Mike Hosking Breakfast, skipper Terry Hutchinson believed they were well on track to return to racing next week.
"Things are looking exactly as we planned and the guys just have to keep chipping along," Hutchinson said.
"We know we're racing this time next week ... the timeline is what it is and sitting here today we're in a reasonably good spot to get the boat out on the water a week from yesterday."
American Magic haven't been able to do it alone, however, with Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton offering his team's resources to help their opponents get back on the water.
"The defenders helped us out with their boat building facility, really we've handed off part of the project to them to take on and that's allowed our boat builders and shore team to focus on getting the inside of Patriot back to where she needs to be," Hutchinson said.
"It's been truly impressive to watch our team and the support we've gotten from Team NZ and you just know it wouldn't have happened without it. Our goal is to get this thing back out on the water and make what happened last week a distant memory and get back into racing."
Meanwhile, remaining Prada Cup challengers – Luna Rossa and Ineos Team UK – will take part in "ghost races" today due to Prada Cup regulations in order to be handed the win by default.
Competitors will have to take the start of a "ghost race" vs American Magic to allow the Regatta Director to award the point to the relevant team.
The race will then be suspended just a few minutes after the start. The rule of 25 minutes between the two starts will not apply.
The revised schedule will mean Luna Rossa and Ineos Team UK will face each other twice, with one race each taking place on Saturday and Sunday at 4pm.
The third and fourth round-robin races will determine the automatic qualifier for the Prada Cup final, with the remaining two teams facing off in a seven-race semifinal to determine the second finalist.
Prada Cup schedule - round robin three and four
Saturday 23rd of January 2021:Luna Rossa vs Ineos Team UK – Start at 4pm
Sunday 24th of January 2021:Ineos Team UK vs Luna Rossa – Start at 4pm
Heading into the Cup racing?

Be aware that traffic will be busy, and parking will be very limited.
Give yourself plenty of time and think about catching a ferry, train or bus instead.
Make sure your AT HOP card is in your pocket. It's the best way to ride to the Cup.
For more ways to enjoy race day, visit at.govt.nz/americascup.

There are concerns that the vaccine rollout plan is not good enough for the aged care sector.
Currently those in aged care and their nurses are only in the third group to receive the vaccine, only being bumped up to the first group if there is a major outbreak.
Oceania Healthcare say the government should be prioritising the most vulnerable, especially as there are three times as many residential care beds as there are hospital beds, minimising the risk of hospitals filling up quickly.
Oceania Healthcare General Manager of Nursing and Clinical Strategy Dr Frances Hughes joins Mike Hosking to discuss the issue.
LISTEN ABOVE